Homes must have a higher priority than nature and the environment, the prime minister said, as ministers outlined reforms that could allow more building on England’s green belt.
A shake-up of planning rules revealed on Thursday means councils have been given mandatory targets to deliver a total of 370,000 homes a year.
Keir Starmer said local plans to reach these targets were the starting point, but that the government would “absolutely” push development through if the plans did not work.
Starmer said he wanted to “get the balance right with nature and the environment” but that “a human being wanting to have a house” had to be top priority.
The prime minister and his deputy, Angela Rayner, have pledged to build 1.5m homes and take decisions on 150 major infrastructure projects this parliament.
The target for the total number of new homes per year in England has been set at 370,408, of which 87,992 (24%) are in London, 70,681 (19%) are in the south-east and 45,429 (12%) are in eastern England.
The updated national planning policy framework (NPPF) commits to a “brownfield first” strategy, with disused sites that have already been developed in the past prioritised for new building.
The default answer when a developer seeks to build on brownfield sites will be “yes” but the government says these sites will not be enough for the number of homes needed.
Councils will therefore also be ordered to review their green belt boundaries to meet targets by identifying lower quality “grey belt” land that could be built on.
The framework defines the grey belt for the first time as green belt land that “does not strongly contribute to green belt purposes”.
Those purposes include limiting urban sprawl, stopping neighbouring towns merging into each other and preserving the special character of historic towns.
“For years, we have had not enough houses being built. That means that individuals and families don’t have the security that they want,” Starmer said during a visit to a construction site in Cambridge.
The housing minister Matthew Pennycook gave examples of grey belt sites as “disused petrol stations, abandoned car parks, but also just low-value scrub land”, in comments to Times Radio.
Councils are expected to look at releasing higher-quality green belt land for development if they exhaust their supply of brownfield and grey belt.
Local authorities will be tasked with drafting plans to meet the targets they have been given and can face consequences if they fail to.
“The starting point is local plans, and that’s really important for councils to develop the plan according to the target, taking into account local need and working with developers,” the prime minister said.
“But are we going to push it through if those plans don’t work? Yes we absolutely are. Are we going to push away the planning rules and make them clearer, as we have done today, get away the blockers that are stopping the houses being built? Yes, we are absolutely intent.”
Any development on green belt land must comply with new “golden rules”, which require developers to provide infrastructure for local communities, such as nurseries, GP surgeries and transport, as well as a higher level of social and affordable housing.
The NPPF reforms are just one element of the government’s plans to rewrite the planning rules to make it easier to build homes and major infrastructure projects.
The forthcoming planning and infrastructure bill is intended to rip up red tape and make it faster for projects to be approved.
The shadow housing secretary, Kevin Hollinrake, provoked anger when he claimed the “majority” of homes built to reach the government’s new targets would go to migrants coming to the UK.
“What we do not welcome is the war on rural England he is pursuing,” he said. “Following on the family farm tax, the withdrawal of rural services delivery grant, now we see the massive shift (to) mass-housebuilding in rural areas and on green belts.
“Due to the loosening of restrictions on the visa requirements, such as the salary threshold, and the scrapping of the Rwanda deterrent, the majority of the homes they deliver will be required for people coming in to this country rather than for British citizens.”
Pennycook condemned Hollinrake’s comments. “He’s scaremongering,” he said. “It’s beneath him, I know that [Hollinrake] doesn’t really believe it.”
Adam Jogee, the Labour MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, said Hollinrake’s comments were “not the kind of gutter politics we should be engaging with”.
Florence Eshalomi, the chair of the housing committee, criticised the remarks, saying: “For the shadow secretary of state to reduce this about immigration is wrong. Think about those many children who will be sleeping rough this Christmas.”
